Sunday, August 12, 2007

Road Trip, Day 18, Goodbye and Load 'Em Up

Today we followed a winding road (actually a pothole with street signs) through the woods to the most beautiful little church we've seen in ages. It was called the Old Rock Hill 1st United Methodist Church, and we were greeted like welcome old friends, treated to beautiful music, a wonderful sermon, and the sort of warmth and courtesy you always hope your home congregation will give visitors. What a beautiful morning. Now we know where to go when we're in this neck of the woods.Ruth marinated chicken (she called it coconut chicken, and I really need that recipe, too). Ben did the honors over wood chips on his barbeque grill, with John supervising. It was an awesome meal, once again. Unfortunately, we'll be leaving first thing in the morning - actually getting a 4:45 a.m. wake up call - so we left way too early for me. Ashley was still asleep from her dinner nap (a rare thing this week, which meant Ruth got to eat in peace.) It also meant we didn't get to say goodbye to her, and we didn't get to play any games, which we were all ready for except for John, who has the responsibility of loading the Tahoe. Oh, well. It would have been worse if he'd played the games and then asked me to load up. I guess if we'd stayed another week, I still wouldn't have been ready to leave.Ben gave us some alternate routes that might or might not help us mitigate some of the rush hour traffic through New York, although he admits that all bets are off once we hit New Jersey. Also, I guess it's time to get those dollars out for the turnpikes again. Next time we'll get one of those EZ Pass things like we have for Colorado. No stopping at the toll booths. That would be good. They no longer nickle and dime you to death. Now they five- and ten-dollar you. It's a lot faster than Route 66, though.Tomorrow night will be our last night of internet access for anywhere from three nights to a week. We just don't know if we'll run into a computer anywhere while we're in Wisconsin or Upper Michigan, but if we do, I'll squeak on and update. Otherwise, tomorrow will do it for awhile. So Sunday night blessings to all, from two people who got more than our share today...